The two international innovation awards promoted by the business arm of the BRICS countries announced their 2025 winners during the BRICS Business Forum on Saturday, July 5. The BRICS Women’s Startup Contest and the BRICS Solutions Awards recognized, respectively, women-led startups and sustainable technological solutions with high socio-economic impact. Each contest selected 18 winning projects from over 1,000 applications for the Women’s Startup Contest and 500 for the BRICS Solutions Awards.
The BRICS Women’s Startup Contest is an initiative of the BRICS Women’s Business Alliance (WBA) in partnership with the Brazilian Micro and Small Business Support Service (Sebrae). Its goal is to promote and highlight women-led startups in BRICS countries. The competition recognizes innovative projects with strong potential for social, economic, and environmental impact, across different stages of development (early-stage, growth, and scale-up) and in strategic sectors such as health, agriculture, energy, and digital transformation.
The BRICS Solutions Awards is promoted by the BRICS Business Council in partnership with the Brazilian Institute for the Development of International Business Relations (IBREI). The initiative highlights innovative and sustainable practices developed within BRICS member countries, across six categories: bioeconomy, circular economy, food security, and innovative financing. The objective is to encourage cooperation among the countries and promote the global dissemination of scalable solutions.
Innovation and technology in service of sustainable development
Among the initiatives recognized in the BRICS Solutions Awards are the development of liquid biochips for agricultural genotyping and mobile 3D concrete printers, capable of constructing buildings in half the time of traditional methods while also reducing emissions.
In the Women’s Startup Contest, winners include a Brazilian center for economic and digital inclusion aimed at empowering the Black community through tech education, access to capital, and market connections. Another winning project, from South Africa, involves a solar-powered mobile avocado processing unit, which transforms low-quality or unsold produce into high-value-added products.
Here are all the award-winning projects:
🏆 BRICS Women’s Startup Contest 2025
Organized by the BRICS Women’s Business Alliance (WBA) in partnership with SEBRAE, the contest awarded women-led startups in six thematic categories and three business stages: Early Stage, Growth, and Scale-up.
🌾 Agriculture and Food Security
- Early Stage: Estefânia Vangelie Ramos Campos – B.Nano (Brazil)
- A bio-based formulation containing plant growth regulators encapsulated in polymeric nanoparticles. The nanocarrier system ensures compound stability and sustained release, promoting plant growth and resilience under stress.
- Growth: Christine Masaiti – AvoEcoPower (South Africa)
A solar-powered mobile avocado processing unit that transforms low-quality or unsold avocados into high-value products, tackling post-harvest losses and rural poverty.
- Scale-up: Dana Katia Meschede – Dana Agro (Brazil)
Develops deep-tech bio-products from natural and agro-industrial waste, including a bioherbicide that breaks weed resistance cycles.
🛍️ Commerce, Services & Digital Transformation
- Early Stage: Argenide Ghini Servilha – Metavila (Brazil)
A metaverse platform connecting Gen Z with physical books, featuring literary content and events to foster new readers.
- Growth: Ana Raquel Calhau Pereira – NexAtlas (Brazil)
A flight planning platform for general aviation, allowing pilots to build routes, access weather and charts, and navigate offline.
- Scale-up: Pamella Faustina Campos – TCX Creative Solutions (Brazil)
Developed Vision Control, a manufacturing system integrating computer vision and machine monitoring for quality control and automation.
🎓 Education and Skills Development
- Early Stage: Christine Masaiti – LiftUP (South Africa)
A social enterprise using AI-powered mobile academic support, entrepreneurship training, and STEM programs for girls to tackle education inequality.
- Growth: Sandra Regina Marchi – See Color (Brazil)
A tactile color-identification system for the visually impaired, using embossed tags to promote accessibility and inclusion.
- Scale-up: Marina Barbosa da Silva – Black Money Movement (Brazil)
A digital and economic inclusion center empowering the Black community through tech education, capital access, and market connections.
⚡ Energy, Infrastructure and Mobility
- Early Stage: Mekides Ashagre Minlike – Ablenee Energy Solutions (Ethiopia)
Converts organic waste into clean cooking biogas and nutrient-rich fertilizer using innovative Bio-CNG technology.
- Growth: Nataly Milena Parga Hernandez – SQUAIR (Brazil)
IoT and AI-powered platform that cuts energy use in industrial refrigeration systems by up to 40%.
- Scale-up: Natalia Guida Giampietri – PayGas (South Africa)
Provides clean LPG to low-income households using a patented cashless refill system with flexible payments from US$0.50.
🏥 Healthcare and Wellbeing
- Early Stage: Fei Qu – Linghang Institute (China)
Created an integrated digital system to modernize traditional Chinese medicine, featuring intelligent diagnostics and precision treatment.
- Growth: Kanchan Garg – Haxor (India)
An adaptive clothing brand designed with caregivers and specialists for people with limited mobility, chronic illness, or post-op recovery.
- Scale-up: Anna Meshcheryakova – Third Opinion AI (Russia)
AI-driven platform for radiology and clinical support, used in over 2,000 hospitals across 8 countries, analyzing over 10 million diagnostics.
🌱 Sustainable Development and Climate Solutions
- Early Stage: Marbella Maria Bernardes da Fonseca – Microciclo (Brazil)
Academic spin-off applying bioremediators to clean industrial oily waste in an eco-friendly way.
- Growth: Xue Wang – Botree Recycling Technologies (China)
A closed-loop battery recycling system with high recovery rates for nickel, cobalt, and lithium, integrating circular and energy supply chains.
- Scale-up: Rituparna Das – Arosia Water (India)
Deploys IoT-enabled, solar-powered water kiosks providing clean water access to underserved communities.
💡 BRICS Solutions Awards 2025
Promoted by the BRICS Business Council (BBC) in partnership with IBREI, the award celebrates innovation for sustainability across six categories.
🌿 Bioeconomy
- Shunxue Tang – Higentec Co., Ltd (China)
Liquid-phase biochips (cGPS & mGPS) for smart breeding, offering low-cost and efficient alternatives with high accuracy.
- Pedro Cavazzoni – Native Algae Methane Reduction (Brazil)
Cultivates anti-methanogenic macroalgae with local communities to reduce livestock emissions and restore marine ecosystems.
- Christiane Paiva – Microbial Bio-Inputs (Brazil)
A phosphorus-solubilizing biofertilizer improving yields and reducing fertilizer dependence in tropical agriculture.
🔁 Circular Economy
- Rana Hajirasouli – The Surpluss (UAE)
A digital exchange platform transforming surplus inventory into economic opportunities through circular trade.
- Hellen Borges – GLR Tech (Brazil)
A 4-in-1 compact system reducing engine emissions and converting residual heat to usable energy—scalable and chemical-free.
- Lev Maksimov – S.M.Art Metals (Russia)
Technology for recycling water treatment residues into products like magnetic particle inspection tools and LFP battery components.
🌐 Digital Transformation for Sustainability
- Andrey Matchin – CEMANT (Russia)
Mobile 3D concrete printers with swarm coordination reduce build times by 50% and costs by 30–50%, boosting urban sustainability.
- Anna Meshcheryakova – Third Opinion AI (Russia)
AI platform for medical imaging and patient safety, integrated into hospital workflows and monitoring.
- Harjinder Kaur Talwar – Double Booth System (India)
Synchronizes two toll booths using one system, increasing vehicle throughput by 65% without expanding infrastructure.
⚡ Energy Transition
- Nimmathi Shankar – Fourth Partner Energy (India)
Provides industrial solar energy via inter-state transmission, decoupling generation from consumption location.
- Guoya Zhou – ICBC Solar Park Financing (China)
Financed a 950 MW CSP-PV hybrid project in Dubai, a model for clean energy transition and reduced gas dependency.
- Maxim Kanischev – Anselm Online (Russia)
Energy analytics platform optimizing industrial efficiency, potentially saving $100M and cutting 500K tons of CO₂ in refineries.
🌾 Food Security and Sustainable Production
- Srinivasu Pappula – TCS Digital Food Initiative (India)
Platform using satellite, drone, and AI tools to support sustainable farming, market access, and risk evaluation.
- Fabiana Reguero – Amaggi Regenera (Brazil)
Promotes regenerative farming practices to restore soil health, reduce emissions, and increase productivity.
- Gustavo Pagotto – Reduction of Food Loss (Brazil)
Antimicrobial silver-based packaging extends the shelf life of fresh foods without preservatives, reducing waste.
💰 Innovative Financing for Sustainability
- Shu Wei – ICBC Benban Solar Project (China)
Developed a blended finance model with multilateral institutions to lower entry barriers and enable green investment.
- Nathalia Abreu – Catastrophe Fund (Brazil)
Private fund for fast disaster response in vulnerable communities, bypassing corporate bureaucracy.
- Himanshu Sikka – SAMRIDH Blended Finance (India)
Combines philanthropic, public, and commercial capital for healthcare startups, with technical support and policy advocacy.
All the awardees were announced during the BRICS Business Forum, held in Rio de Janeiro. The forum serves as a platform to advance cooperation in the face of global challenges, bringing together the efforts of member countries to promote an agenda centered on innovation, sustainability, and economic inclusion.
The BRICS Business Forum is a platform for advancing cooperation in the face of global challenges, bringing together the efforts of member countries to promote an agenda centered on innovation, sustainability, and economic inclusion. The event is sponsored by XCMG, DP World, Keeta, WEG, Embraer, Vale, Febraban, Mebo International, Marfrig/BRF, the National Industrial Training Service (SENAI), the Social Service of Industry (SESI), and the Euvaldo Lodi Institute (IEL), with institutional support from the National Council of SESI, the Brazilian Cooperative Organization (OCB), Natura, SEBRAE, ApexBrasil, and the Federation of Industries of the State of Rio de Janeiro (Firjan).
In 2025, the BRICS Business Council and the BRICS Women’s Business Alliance are coordinated by the Brazilian National Confederation of Industry (CNI).
